The popularity of commercial wireless communications services (e.g., wireless telephony, wireless network access, and wireless email) has substantially increased during recent years. In many cases, users, such as consumers, mobile workers, emergency response personnel, and the like, now utilize these services for both personal and business communications. Likewise, users are also increasingly relying on these services. For example, some households forgo wired telephone service in favor of wireless telephone service, some government agencies rely on these services for both routine and emergency communications, and businesses rely on these services to communicate with customers and mobile workers. Correspondingly, the cost (both financial and nonfinancial) of outages is also increasing.
Typical commercial wireless communications service (CMRS) providers rely on remote facilities to provide services, such as base stations (e.g., cell sites, radio repeaters, wireless to backhaul interfaces, etc.). If a base station experiences a loss of externally provided electrical power (e.g., due to natural disasters, rolling brownouts, accidents, etc.), users near the base station may experience a service outage. To decrease reliance on externally provided power, many base stations include backup batteries. However, the amount of energy storable in backup batteries of a base station is typically limited by constraints such as maximum size, weight, and cost, etc.
Recent advancements in battery technology have drastically increased the amount of energy that can be stored (e.g., the amount of energy per unit size, per unit weight, etc.). Further, recent advancements have also drastically increased the rate at which batteries may be charged and/or discharged and improved the self-discharge rates. In light of these and other advancements, it may be beneficial to more effectively manage battery circuits, for example, to increase the amount of time that base stations can operate from battery circuits, to increase battery circuit longevity, to detect battery circuit failures, and the like.